SATS looming

[buzylizy]

Am I alone in hating these. ds is 14yr9 so they are so important. any tips on how I can help him

They aren't really important for him, bl - just for the school (unless the school puts them into different groups for GCSE on the strength of SAT results?) Just tell him not to panic!

My 7 year old dd will have hers in May. Absolutely ridiculous imo. Another reason for home educating. I'm really hating school at the moment.

Sorry. A bit more radical than you were after perhaps.

groan - bloody SATs again. I'm an english teacher and i HATE this time of year!!! luckily i'm out of it this year, on maternity leave. I can only comment on english but here goes: have you had any info from your ds's school? lots of schools do parents info evenings, special revision sessions and booklets to help pupils for each of the 3 subjects, so it's worth finding this out first.

what sort of level is he on at the moment? I might get slammed for this (but probably only from mumsnetter headteachers if there are any!) but unless he's struggling to get level 5, i.e. if he already seems to be achieving this target then i wouldn't get too wound up about it if you can possibly avoid it. They are important for schools but REALLY not the be all and end all that they'd have you believe for the pupils. They might determine what group he goes into for GCSE and if he performs well in exams and is doing ok generally then it shouldn't be a problem.Lots of schools use teacher assessment as well as SATs results to determine settings for GCSE.

There are also revision guides published which you can buy in WHSmiths and the like (just check they're up to date as the SATs change each year) and the BBC bitesize website is excellent.

I guess I would be to do like JanH says and make clear to him that the results are not important for him or for you.

spidey, they are still doing them in Y2? I thought they had stopped (or were stopping)?

Yes they're still doing them JanH.

I meant to add a to my post. It's all wrong.

sadly he has had a really crap school year as he was a target for bully's. That is all sorted but I don't feel he will do to well as he has missed a lot.
He is doing really well in english though. he struggled with that in primary so thats good.

ds1 is also yr 9. I am torn between wanting him to take them (and school in general) seriously, and feeling annoyed with the school cos it really is the school that will benefit or otherwise, not the individual child, as JanH said. As for mock SATs, well that really did seem ridiculous!

DS is Yr 6. They have been doing loads of practice papers :(

I have just told him to look forward to the last term of school, no SATS, just fun things to kill the time until they leave. Also, remind them beyond age 16 NO ONE cares what levels they got in ANY SATS.

dd is yr 6 and although the school is probably more low key than many about it, they do seem to be doing a lot of revision, interspersed by nice fun activities which are annoyingly referred to as 'stressbusters'. Seems to nme that that is suggesting they should be stressed by the tests...Luckily she seems to be OK and ds1 is def not stressed by his (cd do with being a little more concerned I feel)

"My 7 year old dd will have hers in May. Absolutely ridiculous imo. Another reason for home educating. I'm really hating school at the moment.
Sorry. A bit more radical than you were after perhaps".

Spidermama,

I fully agree with you. Have become somewhat disillusioned with the whole system of the school and will be glad when the six weeks holidays is here!.

DS is also seven and they've got six weeks of the things after the Easter half term. How can it go on for so long?!.

I just find the very idea of SATS to be appalling. Who was responsible for bringing in SATS in the first place?. If someone could enlighten me on that point and to the history of SATS I would be grateful.

DS's class teacher told them last week they were having tests!. Please excuse my ignorance here but I thought the whole SATS thang was supposed to be low ley.

My dd is 14 and doing her sats in a few weeks time. After the sats the school will stream them in maths according to what level they got. She is desperate to get into the top stream and needs a level 8 for this. I have been doing a bit of revision with her with some cgp books. Does anyoen know what extra things she needs to know to get a level 8 over a level 7?

I know you are probalby thinking I am crazy worrying that she may not get a level 8, but she is quite anxiosu about this and I want to help her as much as I can. She is good at maths, but i wondered if there were any specific topic that we could look at. Thanks

Figroll, My DD got a level 8 last year, and she just did past paper practice, with the schools providing the past papers. There is no extra paper - just higher marks required. Good luck for your DD.

I have one in year 9 and one year 6 and i have told them to chill! they are unimportant to me and life is too short!
They will have enough revising for real exams in a few years - my daugter has also had11+ this year. I remember my babysitter laughing at her mum cos she was stressed re her brothes sats at 14. If a young girl (16) knows how unimportant they are then we should too....................chhhhiiiillll!

Ther isn't any SATs for 7 or 11 year olds in Wales any more which is good. 14 year olds do still have them but these are also being phased out. I think that schhols can opt out of these now. My daughters schol is still doing them and use them as a loose basis of what level they can take in GCSe's but is flexable and they can ask to be put in a different level later.
Why does your daughter need a level 8 to get into the top stream figroll? My 16 year old was put into the top stream after she had taken the year 9 Sat's and she got a level 5 ( one mark of a level 6). I have been told by my 14 year olds teacher that level 5 is the average for this age group. The levels are slightly difernent then the 11 year old ones. So a year nine level 5 is higher thenb a year six level 5.
I've just told my daughter to do her best. She is dyspraxic and onthe special needs register so will be getting a scribe for Maths and Science.

She goes to grammar school

I am confused is a 5 good or bad(not that it is ever bad!)

High twokids.
The teachers at my daughters school say 5 is good although bright kids can and do get higher levels. My daughter can do double science ( now core and aditional science apparently) with a level 5. She needs a level 6 to do tripple scince which is for kids who want to do things like medical or vetanary science later on.
Hope this helps.

thanks he has mock english sats on monday poor thing!!
By the way I used to be busylizy

figroll - you asked what topics to focus on to move from a 7 to an 8. I would recommend focusing on topics such as trigonometry, factorisation, algebraic manipulation involving powers etc. Also standard deviation and other higher level data handling topics. I will try and have a look for you for the description in the mathematics framework of higher level work - that should be useful to get an idea.

I would also suggest that between a level 7 and 8 a major difference is not so much the factual knowledge but the ability to adapt, apply and justify what you are doing. So he needs to really focus on doing past papers and getting feedback.

\link{http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/keystage3/downloads/ma_fmkdl_15yrtch.pdf\start on page 9 and look at the bits written in blue - these are the bits to focus on}